KM Rustfri has introduced a complete line of water hydraulic process valves onto the sanitary industry market to inspire a new development in sanitary plant designs, reduce manufacturing costs, and improve food safety and lower investments in the sanitary industry.

The HYDRACT valves are powered and controlled by the patented HYDRACT actuator technology developed in co-operation with Carlsberg and with financial support from the European Union and the Danish Market Maturation Foundation since 2008. In addition to the new line of process valves, KM Rustfri also proposes the actuator technology as a retrofit solution offering all the advantages of water hydraulics to existing process valves including turning them into high precision regulating valves.

The HYDRACT solution

Where conventional process valves operate with compressed air and springs, the patented HYDRACT technology take advantage of the incompressibility of water. Air and springs are by nature compressible, and almost every valve in the sanitary process industry has been powered this way for decades. The problems with high energy losses because of leaking air systems, the unintentional opening of valves due to pressure transients and problems using pneumatic valves for regulation are well known to everyone in the food and beverage industry, as well as in the pharmaceutical and similar industries. The well-known consequences are higher production costs and concerns about product safety.

Process valves powered with the HYDRACT technology perform the same operations as traditionally powered valves with the difference that they can both open and close as well as regulate which is not possible for pneumatic valves. HYDRACT valves or valves retrofitted with HYDRACT actuators have the precision of a CNC-machine and the power of a hydraulic machine while still being a clean technology due to the use of a closed sterilised water system.

Challenge for the sanitary industry: There is no competition on valve technology

The competition in the sanitary process industry has been negatively affected for decades because it has not been possible for the producers in the process industry to differentiate themselves in the way their plants are fundamentally designed and operated. The reason is that all valve manufacturers have designed their valves on the same technology and the limitations the traditional technology is imposing.

Today process plants are designed based on the assumption that valves cannot always remain closed, which is leading to more pipework. Besides that, traditional pneumatic valves are only one-directional and regulating valves cannot keep closed so they must be supported by a separate on/off valve. By changing these assumptions so that all valves become bi-directional regulating valves with a safe closed position, a lot of advantages reveal themselves.

Advantages for the customer

With HYDRACT valves or with HYDRACT actuators retrofitted to existing valves, all the valves will become on/off valves with a safe closed position and with regulation capabilities better than any pneumatic regulating valve on the market. Due to numeric control, there will be full positioning and velocity control of the valve pistons and complete surveillance and monitoring via the bus system is available.
Furthermore, all valves become bi-directional and, due to a new valve design, the HYDRACT process valve is modular and hygienic also when used as a bottom tank valve.

The advantages of implementing the HYDRACT technology depend on the specific application, but savings on energy consumption and CO₂ emissions can be expected to be between 65% and 90% compared with pneumatic valves. Besides that, the waste in production will be reduced significantly, because the valves are unable to open unintentionally, which prevents, e.g. beer and cleaning fluids from being mixed. Maintenance and repair costs will also reduce because pressure transients will not have any effect on the HYDRACT valves – in fact, water-hydraulic valves will prevent pressure transients from happening.

The most significant potential advantages, however, arrive from the numeric control embedded in the HYDRACT technology. By using the unique regulation capabilities and because the actuator is unaffected by any pressure fluctuation in the process stream, it is possible to use the valves for controlling and mixing different fluids based on any input from sensor systems – pressure, flow, temperature, colour, density etc. The great advantage will be that in-line mixing of beer, soft drink, juice etc. is possible without using mixing tanks – mixing on demand becomes a reality!

Implemented by Carlsberg

The Carlsberg Group has supported the development of the HYDRACT technology since 2008 and is currently testing it in different applications.

“HYDRACT is an exciting new technology that sets new standards for reduced energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The actuator’s precision and reliability are remarkable and open the way for a completely new approach to process facilities in the brewing industry, leading to lower production costs, greater food safety and reduced investment in brewing facilities.”

Michael Jakob, vice-president of group manufacturing and technology at Carlsberg Supply Company.

 

Carlsberg in Denmark has since Q1 2016 been using the HYDRACT technology on their main CIP system, and since April 2017 the alcohol percentage in beer has been regulated using a HYDRACT actuator retrofitted onto an existing mix-proof valve.

Carlsberg has in 2017 embraced the HYDRACT technology and awarded KM Rustfri with orders worth k700€ for new valves and actuators for retrofitting.

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